Mindy Kaling of 'The Mindy Project' arrives at a screening of Fox TV's new Tuesday night comedies in Santa Monica.

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At an interactive chat last night to kick off Fox’s new Tuesday comedy block, The New Girl star Jake Johnson addressed the question on everyone’s minds: Will Zooey Deschanel’s Jess and his character, Nick, get together this season? “You’ll have to ask our great writers,” he coyly responded. “It’d be great if they get together. If they don’t, it’d be fun, too.” Johnson admitted he doesn’t worry, like the diehard fans in attendance did, if the pairing would come too soon if it featured prominently in the upcoming season – but he did tease that the episode set to start taping today features plenty of Nick and Jess scenes.

Johnson was one of eight actors present at Fox’s advance screening event in 10 cities last night, joining stars of returning comedy Raising Hope as well as new series Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project in Santa Monica, California, for a live-streamed Q&A following a screening of the two new shows.

When asked about the similarities between themselves and their characters, New Girl‘s Greenfield reassured the crowd, “I think they got the right guys for the right roles.” Added Johnson, “I think when the show starts, it’s one thing. And as it progresses, you become more and more like your character, and/or vice versa.” Read into that what you will, Schmidt and Nick fans. Know this: Greenfield followed up by saying, “I just know that I wake up early, I get to set and I unleash. I’m working out a lot of things on set.”

The brashly funny The Mindy Project finds Mindy Kaling as the title character, a thirtysomething OB/GYN struggling to balance her career and love life. Of her same-named character, writer-star Kaling said “there’s a bigger overlap than I a little bit hate to admit” between their personalities. Though she detailed personal hijinks in her book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, the writer-star did not let on whether, like her character in the show’s pilot, she has ever gone to work after spending time in jail following a drunken outburst at an ex’s wedding, had a heart-to-heart with a doll at the bottom of the pool, or prayed for a man with “the wealth of Mayor Bloomberg, the humor of Jon Stewart and the face of Michael Fassbender . . . OK, the penis of Michael Fassbender” before a date. Kaling also promised that the love triangle “energy” introduced in the pilot between her character, Chris Messina’s gruffly endearing Danny Castellano and Ed Weeks’ cocky Englishman Jeremy Reed will manifest during the season, though other romantic interactions will come into play.